At the Battle of Dorylaion upon their decisive victory in July of 1921, the Greek Army successfully managed to take the opportunity and encircle the Turkish Forces, from here rather than advancing on Ankara the Greek forces move to secure more of the eastern Aegean coastline and Thrace instead. Turkey is unable to force the Greeks out and the Treaty of Lausanne re-ends the war between the Ottoman Empire and western powers, in late 1922, as well as defining the new borders of a reborn Greece and newborn Turkey. Shortly after the signing of the treaty. Later on it is revealed that French and the Italians had concluded private agreements with the Turkish revolutionaries in recognition of their mounting strength. This creates a large rift between Greece and the west, France and Italy in particular, and Greece feels like they attempted to betray the promises made to Greece in the Great War. However despite this, the Greeks find even more disdain in the Soviets who directly supported the Turks throughout the war. In 1923 King Constantine I declared himself Emperor Constantine XII of the Byzantine Empire, declaring the fulfillment of the Prophecy of the Marble King and the success of the Megali Idea,
the success also leading to a massive decline in the power of the Liberal Nationalist Venizelos Party, who more or less faded away. Constantinople is rechristened, and the capital is moved there thusly(in concordance with the Megali idea). Negotiating with the UK, who has long supported Greece, he manages to annex Cyprus along with other British Aegean Territory.
Most of his reign is spent further industrializing the country, and the enacting of pro-natalist policies to increase the Byzantine, previously Greek, population, with the main focus being on repopulating former Ottoman lands. Relations with the new Turkish Republic remain tense, climaxing when there was widespread reports of Turkish Genocide perpetrated upon Armenian minorities. A soon as these reports began to surface Constantine took action, forcing turkey to give up their remaining land on the Black Sea in the Treaty of Trabzon. One of the last actions of his reign as Emperor was the Treaty of Thessaloniki in which, after the sudden death of the Bulgarian Tsar, which some people theorize may have been brought forth by the Byzantines, annexed all of Bulgaria, which massively expanded the Empire. After his short but effective tenure, Emperor Constantine XII passed away on March 3, 1926, and was succeeded by his son George.
Taking the name Emperor George I, his reign sets out on a high note, the economy booming and a high sense of national unity. In 1928 he manages to annex Macedonia from Yugoslavia. Despite the popularity of this action it is quickly overshadowed by the events that struck the next year. The Great Depression hit hard, hitting Byzantium harder than much of the rest of the world, partially due to the large scale industrial expansion of the last decade. Factories closed, unemployment skyrocketed, and George’s approval ratings plummeted. What or how George would have solved this crisis is unknown, because only shortly after in early 1930 George is assassinated by Nicolas Perrin, a former factory worker who blamed George for the poor economy and loss of his job.
Paul, George’s younger brother, ascends to the throne at the young age of 28, taking the name Theodosius IV. The new Emperor takes quick action, expanding the size of the government to nearly triple its previous size. He rapidly begins to expand the military, opening up new factories to produce arms and munitions for the military. Theodosius invests heavily into the private sector to allow businesses to regain their footing. All these actions combine to create millions of new jobs, resting late the economy, and bring back the sense of national unity, that had been lost. In the process of this Theodosius seizes more power from the legislature, who he frames as being unable to work efficiently, which to some extent was true. The Byzantine Empire emerges in 1934 not only far stronger than before, but also growing in strength.
